After a woeful test series against England the BCB decided to take immediate action into trying to recover the nations pride with a new line-up. They had slowly been heading this way anyway.

After the Australian tour a few famous faces from the past had been dropped due to poor performance and again after and during the tour of Pakistan. Among the axed were Manjural Islam, Mohammad Ashraful, Al Sahariah, Tushar Imran and Sanwar Hossain. These five faces had served very well for Bangladesh since gaining test status back in 2001 but due to a couple of poor performances were replaced by others who were in form. In a couple of cases it was a good move, like the finding of Rajin Saleh and Mushfiqur Rahman, but was it really necessary for all these changes? The worlds best cricket side at the moment, Australia, had always been based on persistence. Keeping their cricketers in the side through the tough times waiting for them to find form and it worked. So if a couple of the senior players have a less than average tour, is it right to drop them in search for new talent? And where did this new talent come from anyway? How many people had heard of this Jamaluddin character before he was forced upon the one-day arena against England? Ok now I?ll ease off a little, it was mainly because of the injuries to Javed Omar, Mohammad Rafique and Mashrafe Mortaza. But then couldn?t they have gone back to the likes of Ashraful, Manjural and Sanwar, who have experience at the top level and in most cases a higher first-class average? Instead they tried to breed new talents, in the likes of Nafis Iqbal, Moniruzzaman, Jamaluddin and Manjural Islam Rana. The end result of that tour was a fair indication of which would have served better for that series, but what about the future? These could be the stars of tomorrow and what better time to give them experience at the top level?

Upcoming is the tour of Pakistan that the A?s will be playing in. Among this team are the likes of Ashraful and Manjural who will be looking to find form and impress the selectors. And also in the team are the likes of the Nafis and Jamaluddin. So is this it? Will this determine who goes to Zimbabwe next year?

Complement must go to the BCB for giving Bangladesh such an opportunity for us to see where one stands and also to give the players more cricket and the chance to find form. After all, if you keep the Bashar, Rafique, Mashud, Hannan, Tapash and Javed (the soul of the side) it can?t be too bad. But you cannot play in a team of six and whoever completes the side will have done a hell of a job to get there. So what do you do? Go back to the experience of the Al Sahariah?s or look to breed new talent in the Nafis Iqbal?s? Either way, the side should be picked due to talent and form, and that will all be shown on the tour of Pakistan. The BCB have the decision and will be looking closely over the next couple of months and all you can do is pray for the best.

About the author(s): Young James Stedman is a steadfast Australian fan of Bangladesh Cricket and goes by the nick James90 on our forums. He is also on the BanglaCricket staff.